Performers dance during the Dragon Boat Festival at an intangible cultural heritage exhibition park in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The average life expectancy in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has reached 74.4 years, a senior Chinese health official said Tuesday.
Medical services have been greatly improved in Xinjiang, Li Dachuan from the National Health Commission told a press conference, noting that 50 percent of county-level hospitals across the autonomous region are now capable of performing complicated surgeries like those for brain tumors and cervical spine diseases.
In the years that immediately followed the region's peaceful liberation in 1949, the average life expectancy in Xinjiang was 30 years. The figure reached 72.35 years in 2018. ■
